Toronto remembers the victims 4 years after Yonge Street van attack
CBC
Cathy Riddell is still trying to make sense of what happened to her on April 23, 2018.
It's been four years since she and dozens of others had their lives changed forever by the deadliest vehicle attack in Canadian history.
"It's still just absolutely unbelievable what happened. I just can't imagine anybody waking up in the morning and deciding to do what he did," Riddell told CBC's Metro Morning.
"It truly happened, I know it did. But I just can't imagine my mind going there."
To commemorate the victims, Toronto is holding its fourth annual vigil on Saturday online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Coun. John Filion, who represents Ward 18, Willowdale, says while it's unfortunate people can't gather in person, he hopes the community can still come together in solidarity.
"It was such a public tragedy that the remembrance of it needs to be public as well," he said.
WATCH: Remembering the victims of Toronto's van attack
Riddell suffered a fractured pelvis, ribs, hip, sacrum, and spine, and was in hospital for two months. She was one of 15 people injured when a man drove a rented cargo van down Toronto's Yonge Street and deliberately targeted pedestrians.
Eleven people died. Anne Marie D'Amico, 30, Dorothy Sewell, 80, Renuka Amarasingha, 45, Munir Najjar, 85, Chul Min (Eddie) Kang, 45, Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Forsyth, 94, Sohe Chung, 22, Andrea Bradden, 33, Geraldine Brady, 83, and Ji Hun Kim, 22, were the 10 victims who were killed that day.
Amaresh Tesfamariam, 65, was paralyzed from the neck down and remained in hospital until her death in 2021.
Aleksandra Kozhevnikova, 92, suffered multiple fractures and head injuries that day and died two years later.
In early March of 2021, the man who drove the van was found guilty of 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder, and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13.
Former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall disbursed the $3.5-million in funds raised for victims and survivors of the van attack.
She says after watching victims and families deal with the tragedy and trial in their own ways, she carries the memory of each one with her.
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